Relationships Matter - LinkedIn

LinkedIn has over 39 million members in over 200 countries and territories around the world. Executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members. I’m guessing that neither Facebook nor Twitter can boast those stats. So if you are looking to increase your professional contacts, invest some time filling in your profile and learning your way around LinkedIn.

First, decide how you will use LinkedIn. I use it to instantly find out more about people whether they are prospects, clients, candidates or people I just come in contact with. I’m curious, it’s just my nature. I will not connect with just anyone. My rule is that I need to have met them or been introduced in some way. Others will be “open” networkers whose goal is to collect as many names as possible. You need to decide what’s best for you. If you want to connect with everyone, include your email address after your name and in your contact information so it is visible to all. When people do this, the assumption is that you are an open networker.

10 Quick Steps for getting the most out of LinkedIn

1. Fill in all or most of your previous jobs – this allows you to easily connect with anyone that worked/works for those companies.
2. Write a great summary. When doing keyword searches this is where many words will be picked from. Be sure and include all words that you want to be identified with.
3. When you are in “Edit My Profile”, set your public profile so you are easily found. Mine is www.linkedin.com/in/karenfrey.
4. References – There is an easy tool to ask for references within LinkedIn. References add credibility especially if someone is looking for your expertise and knows the reference.
5. Be an Expert – There are questions and answers about every subject you can think of. LinkedIn users post and answer questions. The user that posts the question determines the best answer. That person is deemed an Expert. Answer multiple questions and become an expert in specific categories.
6. Introductions – Whenever you are sending an invitation to connect, I highly recommend that you include a personal note. If the person refuses your invitation and notes that they don’t know you, you may be blocked from sending some invites. Usually a short reminder of how you know the person will do the job.
7. Boolean logic – Boolean logic has to do with logical operations for conducing searches. Looking for the top HR person with an organization? Use advanced search - in the title type: VP OR Vice President OR Chief AND Human Resources. It’s important the OR and AND are capitalized. Try different combinations, titles, etc. You’ll probably come up with several names, one of which is the person you’re looking for. This is a great sorting tool.
8. Join Groups – This allows you to reach more people and for more people to reach you. There is a limit as to how many groups you can join. I think it’s 50. My suggested is to stick to groups that pertain to what you are trying to accomplish. You can adjust the frequency of the updates that you receive.
9. Create a group – You can be the one who decides who joins and who doesn’t. Just follow the directions on LinkedIn.
10. Signature link for emails – By adding a line on your email signature, you’ll be amazed at the number of people that follow the click to your LinkedIn profile. It just another way to brand and reinforce what you do.

So there are your 10 quick steps for getting started on LinkedIn. Good luck and happy networking.